-
This probably comes up a lot in these forums, but I don't remember ever reading it, so i'll just ask. can you v* from anxiety/panic attacks? Sometimes when i'm panicking about v*ing, i could swear if i don't calm down it really will happen. is it even possible? i know there's something about the reflexes not working right when you're anxious...
also, does anyone else's emet start to act up really badly, out of nowhere, when they're away from home (as in, not locally)? this happens to me about 90% of the time i go an hour or more away from home, and not necessarily from a fear of motion sickness. i've even started to anticipate and expect it because it almost always happens. but i want to go to cali for college and i live in NY, and i don't want to have panic attacks all through college.
if anyone knows the answers to these questions, that would be great.
-
Generally speaking, human beings don't vomit during a panic attack because whenthe sympathetic nervous system kicks in, it actually shuts down digestion. This is often what contributes to the feeling of being "nauseous" when panicking. The nauseous feeling is really what I call "feeling funny" and by "funny" I mean that it comes from holding your breath - not enough oxygen as well as blood rushing more to your extremeties and muscles, taking oxygen with it of course.
Emetophobic people absolutely will not vomit from panicking. Quite the contrary. But panic will make you feel "funny" and those body sensations are not comfortable for an emet...so the cycle of anxiety is perpetuated.
Breathing very very slowly and intentionally (both the in and out breath) will slow down the heart and activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which will calm you down and make you feel better. But it takes a lot of practice.
Some people (never emetophobes) who have very mild "nervousness", and not panic at all get sick when they're nervous. This is really a different mechanism and brain function, as these folks don't mind vomiting anyway and find that it somehow relaxes them, althought they might not realize this consciously.
If you've panicked away from home even once before, the panic centre in your brain will "remember" this and want to panic every time you repeat the same behavior.That darn panic centre has such a good memory. But not to worry. If you move away to college, you won't panic the whole time. Just knowing that this is only a body memory will be helpful. You can sort of "convince" your brain not to panic the next time you go away. The more you're away and you're ok, the more you'll learn that it's ok and you don't need to panic.
Good luck!
-
Hi
I just thought i'd tell you how i can relate to your feelings of anxiety when you are further away from home. My b/f lives in Glasgow and i live in Edinburgh so i often travel through to see him. This makes me very anxious, it never used to but my emets has gotten worse over the last year. His dad is an alcohlic which obvuously makes me feel nervous but i can get like that just being on a bus. Anywhere out of my "safe home" "comfort zone". I thin kthe best way is to confront your fears and do it anyway. Otherwise you're confirmig to your brain that avoiding it will keep you safe. I'm sure you'll be fine at uni. Beleive me, it keeps you busy.
Let me know how you get on.
Hope i helped a wee bit.
Katie
